Service encounters have been widely studied from a pragmatic point of view. These studies have shown that the interaction between customer and service provider is essential for the success of the service encounter. Additionally, in the case of intercultural service encounters, there may be differences in what is considered appropriate communicative behavior - i.e. what (non)verbal actions may be conducive to customer satisfaction - which may hinder the success of the encounter.

To further the study of verbal interaction in service encounters, we are proposing a specialist panel for practitioners of pragmatics and related fields to present work on their latest research.